


oh baby you were a heart worth breaking

by thelaziesthufflepuff



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: F/M, Gen, heartbreak ahoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-23 03:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2532158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelaziesthufflepuff/pseuds/thelaziesthufflepuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Echizen Ryoma, with heartbreak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	oh baby you were a heart worth breaking

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arysthaeniru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysthaeniru/gifts).



> written for arysthaeniru, who wanted RyoSakuKin + Falling in Love with your Best Friend's Girl AU

Echizen Ryoma thinks there is a special place in hell just for him, he swore he wouldn’t be a womanizing bastard like his father, but apparently his father must have accumulated enough negative karma from his various past affairs for it to affect him now. He lets out a tired sigh.

 

“Are you alright, Ryoma-kun?” A soft voice asked, brown doe eyes staring at him, curious and worried, across the dining table. He looks at the bane of his existence (the unrequited love of his life) and shrugs noncommittally; truly, he is fine, he just needs to ignore this problem- ignore _her_ and it will all go away in time.

 

It has to. If not he may never get a restful sleep at night ever again. The thought of that sends a weary chill down his spine.  

 

“Mah I guess Koshimae is tired from his long flight! Here’s your Ponta- Sakuno-chan and I bought it specially for you!” Kintarou exclaims, carrying a can of Ponta and _another_ bowl of rice, and tosses the can to him casually before kissing his wife on the check. Ryoma barely manages to catch it, but even if he couldn’t he doubt they would have noticed.  Sitting across him, their heads are buried close together: Kintarou tucking Sakuno’s hair behind her ear, eyes focused on her alone, bowl of rice forgotten. Sakuno blushes at the public display of affection but smiles at Kintarou, soft and sweet.

 

Their matching wedding rings glittering under the fluorescent light of their living room; obviously very well-cared for, adored, cherished.

 

(There are some things that do not change with time, like the way she blushes, and her cooking, and the fragrance of her hair as she walked past him to set the dinner table.)

 

Dinner sits unpleasantly in his stomach. He must have gotten too used to the food in America, in Australia, in Europe, in anywhere but _here,_ a house filled with warmth and love and laughter in Osaka, where the smell of warm rice and fried fish permeates the air, supported by the many photographs lining the walls of the house, cataloguing every bit of happiness he missed out on by picking his career over her that fateful day in June after their last year in high school.

 

For all he used to joke about Kintarou being stupid, Kintarou had the right idea all this while, to pick marrying Ryuuzaki Sakuno ( _wobbly hips,_ he thinks, with a tinge of hysteria, for now her hips are anything but that) over a possible career in pro-tennis.

 

He remembers how she used to braid her hair, how there was never a need for anyone to help her tuck it behind her ear because most of it was tightly bound into twin pigtails he used to complain were too long, and he takes another sip of his juice.

 

The saccharine sweetness of the juice tastes bitter on his tongue.

 

“I should go.” He tries his best to feel vindictive glee at interrupting their moment, but all he feels is bone-achingly tired. The both of them immediately refuse his request, Kintarou nearly yelling “NO KOSHIMAE YOU PROMISED TO STAY THE NIGHT-WE EVEN BOUGHT TENNIS BALL BEDSHEETS FOR YOU-“ and Sakuno’s quieter, but no less firm denial “Ryoma-kun, please stay. We’d like to have you here- we’ve missed you.”

 

There is nothing he can say to that.

 

(There was nothing he could say to her then, when she told him she was attending omiais to find someone, and there was nothing he could say to him, when he told him that he was marrying Sakuno and _wasn’t it awesome Koshimae Sakuno-chan is the cutest girl in the entire planet-no UNIVERSE-_

So he keeps silent.)

 

There is nothing he could say to them, words dying in his throat as he thinks of how much they both mean to him and to each other, then and now and always, so he nods and tries his best to feel happy as they both look at him with matching smiles.

 

He takes another sip of his juice.

 

At least the bitter aftertaste makes a great complement to the food coagulating in his stomach.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave kudos or comments if liked!


End file.
